L.A. N.A.A.C.P. Chief Resigns Over Sterling Flap

The Los Angeles branch of the N.A.A.C.P. faced intense scrutiny for its plans to award disgraced L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling a second lifetime achievement award. Yesterday, the president of the branch, Leon Jenkins, resigned amid an investigation by the organization’s California state conference, the New York Times reports.

Under Jenkins’ leadership the branch gave Sterling, who has donated $45,000 to the branch since 2007, a similar award in 2009.

From the Times:

In announcing Mr. Jenkins’s resignation, the national N.A.A.C.P. said it was “developing guidelines for its branches to help them in their award selection process.”

Mr. Jenkins could not be reached for comment after his resignation was made public. When questioned by a reporter outside his office in a Culver City shopping mall on Wednesday, he said only, “I’d talk to you if I could, but I’ve been told not to.”

Sterling’s racist words weren’t the only indication of his views. In 2009 he agreed to pay $2.725 million to settle a housing discrimination suit connected to apartment buildings that he owned.

Read this online at http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/05/la_naacp_chief_resigns_over_sterling_flap.html

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